Part E - Light Music, 1970-1974

This section reflects Tsippi Fleischer’s early career in the field of light music. It is divided into three sub-sections

Arrangements

Compositions and arrangements

Alei Kinor, Op. 1: A full-length musical

Each sub-section represents several light-music projects.

The recording venues and equipment were not always acoustically satisfying. The vocal
abilities of some of the singers (e.g., elementary-school children or local residents) are
also questionable. LP surface scratches can sometimes be heard. The collection as a
whole, however, is rare, authentic and highly moving.

The title for each file represents the specific song being heard.

Arrangements

1-2Kibbutz Yotvata – 15th anniversary, 1972

Two arrangements which Fleischer prepared for the festivities, performed by Yotvata’s
founders-residents. This was her first encounter with the director Hanan Snir, then a
kibbutz member – a meeting which led to several joint projects, culminating in the musical
Alei Kinor. Here, we have reproduced only two of Fleischer’s arrangements; the quality of
the performances forced us to omit the rest.

Tsippi Fleischer’s rock-like arrangement of a Bedouin melody adapted as a Hebrew song.

3-7Little Lola – Gila Almagor

A selection of items from “Little Lola’s Song Club” – a one-woman show by famous Israeli
actress-singer Gila Almagor, in which she presented some of the finest show tunes in the
repertoire. The show, which receives hundreds of performances in 1972-1974, featured
Tsippi Fleischer as both arranger and pianist, alongside other prominent musicians.

This song was featured on an LP, issued in 1974, which documented a program reviving
songs by Alexander (Sasha) Argov. This is one of two arrangements which the composer
himself commissioned from Tsippi Fleischer.
Singers: Tsila Dagan, Danny Messing, Oded Hur, Naomi Kafri

Compositions and arrangements

9-19Daughters of EveThe trio's LP click to enlarge

This female vocal trio, directed by Tsippi Fleischer (music, vocal and
instrumental arrangements, conducting, production) was active in
1970-1973, and made history in the field of Hebrew popular song,
thanks to its articulate light-music style. Their performances retain
their freshness, and are still being played on air.
This selection arises from live and commercial recordings alike,
including the trio’s LP, released in 1973. The singers are: Noga
Eshed (later a prominent advocate of Hebrew song), Idit Harpz, and
Tamar Eshel

Words and music: Naomi Shemer; arrangement: Tsippi Fleischer.
This arrangement, sung wordlessly, served as the theme tune for radio and TV
programs. It always opened the trio’s performance, as a tribute to Naomi Shemer
who introduced Tsippi Fleischer and the three singers to each other.

Words: Leah Goldberg; music and arrangement: Tsippi Fleischer. The soloist in this
bossa-nova-style song is Noga Eshed; prominent instrumental contribution from the
Israeli saxophonist Orpheus “Mamelo” Giatanopolos.

Lyrics: Yonatan Ratosh; music and arrangement: Tsippi Fleischer. Music and
arrangement are inseparable in this song. The setting for voices accompanied only
by drumming is suggestive of Fleischer’s growing interest in writing for the theatre.

Lyrics: Shimrit Or; music and arrangement: Matti Caspi. The mutual appreciation
between Caspi and Fleischer led her to commission this song from him, and to entrust
him with preparing the arrangement, and directing the band members in the recording
studio. He agreed without hesitation. The soloist is Idit Harpaz.

This lavish production, by the Beer Sheba Theatre, was the initiative of director Rafi Niv,
who retained his enthusiasm for the 1975 premiere, which he watched as a child. Nadav
Rubinstein, the musical arranger for the 2004 production, received permission to expand
the original orchestration. Selected scenes from the 2004 production can be viewed on the video page
in the composer’s website; see also the page dedicated to this production on the website’s World Activity section.

Files 22-37 below represent the complete contents of the CD which was produced on
the basis of on-stage singing with playback accompaniment. The detailed layout for
each song provides complete singer/actor credits and gives pointers for each musical
number’s role within the musical. The original CD was part of lavish project booklet,
which formed part of an educational kit on Shalom Aleichem and the shtetl, produced by
the Theatre’s educational department and distributed to schools in Beer Sheba and the
southern region of Israel.

Note: many materials related to various productions of Alei Kinor (including the
aforementioned booklet) can be found in the composer’s collection at the Music Division
of the Israel National Library in Jerusalem: MUS121A – scores and parts (pre-opuses);
MUS121E – materials related to specific productions.

Zemale’s nightmarish fantasies, portrayed in sounds and voices. This section consists
of a magnetic tape, with no onstage singing, drawing on various motifs from the
musical, and serving as a backdrop for a visual scene.

A song for all participants in praise of music – the musical’s true protagonist. The
composer did not enjoy the Esta rhythm forced on her melody, and did not approve of
the cuts made in the song. Compare with her own playing in file 41 below.

An orchestral segment. This relatively simple song, with its folk-like spirit and joyful
atmosphere, was chosen as the musical backdrop as the participants went on stage
to take their bows and acknowledge the audience’s applause.

The musician Yulia Balla, who is in charge of music teaching at the Eshkol Elementary
School in Beer Sheba and conducts the school choir, came across the educational
kit produced by the Beer Sheba Theatre in connection with their 2004 production of
Alei Kinor, and was enchanted by it. She decided to present several songs with piano
accompaniment (in accordance with Tsippi Fleischer’s original score) at the 2006 Choirs’
Convention in Afikim.
This short performance met with great success. The children’s choir, Sounds of Eshkol,
arrived with Yulia to the music teachers’ annual further-educational convention (Tel Aviv
2010), at the invitation of the Music Education division at the Ministry of Education, and
also appeared twice at the Ada Ban Nahum Grants award at the Beit Tzvi School for the
Performing Arts in Ramat Gan (2007, 2009).
In the professional recording associated with this performance, Tsippi Fleischer herself
plays the piano part in the final song (file 41 below)! This marks the first time that songs
from
Alei Kinor were performed by children. This captivating performance, made outside
Beer Sheba in 2007, marked
a new stage in the life of this musical, in school projects
throughout Israel; see also the extracts from the Petach Tikva performance (files 42-47
below), and finally in Beer Sheba again with Yulia Balla (file 48).

For notes on this song, see file 36 above.
On this occasion, Tsippi Fleischer took over the piano part, to demonstrate the stormy,
samba-like atmosphere built up by the thundering piano rhythms, which underpin the
choir’s relatively longer notes.

Anna Barenboum, director of music studies and choir conductor at the Hoess Elementary
School in Petach Tikva, heard the Eshkol Choir perform several songs from
Alei Kinor at
the annual further-education meeting in 2001; she immediately decided to mount a full-
scale production of the entire musical at her school, which had already produced several
operas. She also roused the enthusiasm of other teachers in her school – in literature,
stage direction, movement and stage design.
Here are a few segments from this performance, recorded professionally at the Jaffa Music
Centre shortly after the stage production at the school’s yard in Petach Tikva. In addition
to children from the school’s choir, who perform the vocal parts, the cast also includes
players from the school’s violin and xylophone classes, joined by a few teachers and one
professional drummer – Yossi Papo-Levy – who was invited specially to take part in this
performance. Several segments from the stage production can be seen in
this video.
The staging concept evokes the presence of the child Zemale alongside the adult Zemale,
recounting his memories.

The Hoess School Choir and a handful of players, conducted by Anna Barenboum,
with a young girl soloist as Estherl. The entire xylophone class was on stage, producing
the prominent xylophone sound at the song’s instrumental introduction.

The boy who portrayed the Zemale as a child successfully inhabited the role of
character who wonders at the adult world.

48Alei Kinor – the complete musical performed by the Eshkol School
Choir in Beer Sheba, conducted by Yulia Balla

In 2015, Yulia Balla initiated a new, lavish production of
Alei Kinor. She enlisted forces
from outside the school to help with the costume design, and got the entire school, in
a marvelous feat of teamwork, to create this full-fledged, grandiose production. Here
we present one song as an illustration, but we recommend viewing the full production,
as well as samples from the accompanying materials, which can be seen on our
World Activity
section.